Ascendance of a Bookworm

Volume 6, Extra 1: Eating in the Temple

The fourth bell rang and it was lunchtime. I made sure that the apprentice was back in her chambers before making my way to Lord Ferdinand’s room. Whenever I was in the temple he would send me an invitation to lunch with him. Of course I was so nervous when I first ate with him that the food had turned bland. Now that a whole season has passed, I was more comfortable dining with him, and frankly I began to anticipate our meals together.

Well, that is because he gets to eat food that a lower-class nobility like me only gets to on rare ocassions.

“Lord Ferdinand, thank you for your invite.”

I was led into the chambers by a gray priest attendant. Our meal was being laid out on the table and I saw that Lord Feridnand was still busy with work. He only looked at me to acknowledge my presence.

The first time I had been here, I panicked when I saw this because I thought I had intruded during an important time, but now I knew that this was just the norm here. While making sure I wasn’t going to get in the way of the attendants prepping our meal, I made my way towards Lord Ferdinand.

“Damuel, what’s with that board?” Lord Ferdinand asked.

“It has a couple of questions from the apprentice addressed to you. She would like you to answer them if possible.”

Lord Ferdinand reached out and took the board. He scanned through the questions and shook his head. I heard him mutter under his breath with a twinge of annoyance, “So she’s reading an old bible this time…” After that he began scribbling down the answers.

The apprentice wanted to ask him some words and things she didn’t understand from the books she was reading. She just picked up a bible that was written in an archaic language that even I, a graduate of the Royal Academy, could not decipher.

The situation was completely bizarre because who would ever imagine a girl who just got baptized to be interested in such a book. It was surprising to see the apprentice flip through the bible with a cheerful grin, so engrossed in trying to learn this archaic language by comparing it with a more modern copy of it.

“She said that she enjoyed analysing it alongside a more modern edition, and that she was thankful to even have the opportunity to read words.” I said.

“Well touching a book is enough to please her.”

“You couldn’t be more right. I was utterly stupefied on my first day at the temple and saw how much of a bookworm she was.”

On my first day as her bodyguard, the first thing she had done was run to the hall of books. The room was freezing cold because there wasn’t a fireplace but she stayed in there for hours. She was already fragile enough that a gust of wind could knock her out but she sat inside reading for hours, while other people wouldn’t even want to set foot in here.

Fran and I were at a loss, so we could only ask Lord Ferdinand to allow her to bring the books back to her chambers so that she could read it near the fireplace. If we didn’t do anything, the apprentice would just get lost in her book for hours in that glacial room. Plus, I would be stuck with her for the entire time. Now that was a risky situation.

“She even reads when she’s sick in bed. Even when she needs to rest to recover, she insists that she needs books. She keeps begging until Fran gives in and hands her one.”

“I’m not surprised by that bonehead anymore,” Lord Ferdinand gave a nonchalant reply as he continued writing his response to the queries about this language so ancient that even the Royal Academy did not cover it in classes.

I was so impressed by Lord Ferdinand, everything my elder brother had said about him being a phenomenon, I was bearing witness to it right now. I was motivated to study more about the old languages because I couldn’t answer any of the questions from the apprentice.

It’s kind of embarrassing that a noble can’t answer a commoner apprentice maiden’s questions. I might be a lower-class noble, but still…

My life is feeling kind of surreal now. I was supposed to serve my punishment in the temple but now I’m studying more than I did at the Royal Academy.

“High Priest, Lord Damuel. The food is ready,” an attendant addressed us, which meant that I had to leave his desk now.

The whole table was adorned with a colourful myriad of appetisers, it was on a completely different scale than the food back in the knight quarters and at home.

I took my seat with a grumbling tummy. I tried to hunker it down, I would be embarrassed if Lord Ferdinand (someone who I greatly looked up to) heard it.

The meal was tauzschnitz today, this was a stewed-bird dish. Just from its looks, I could tell that it was cooked with lots of care and attention, the meat looked so soft that its juices would seep out the moment you put it into your mouth.

“What went on yesterday?” Lord Ferdiand raised a question as he started on his meal.

One of my job’s responsibilities was to give a daily report of what the apprentice did between our daily lunch. Though Fran was also giving his reports about the apprentice too, Lord Ferdinand wanted information from various sources. I was thankful for this responsibility of mine because it felt too awkward to eat with Lord Ferdinnand in silence.

I gave my report, “Tuuli and a couple of people from the Gilberta Company came over yesterday afternoon. They were making plans on how to run the workshop without Myne over the Spring Prayer .”

I said all this while cutting a portion of the softly stewed fargel meat and dipped it into the cream before putting it into my mouth. A burst of flavours came rushing in, the buttery cream washed over my tastebuds and the tender meat crumbled in my mouth.

Ha… There’s nothing as delicious as some nice warm creamy fargel meat.

It felt like springtime again for me, but this also meant that I couldn’t eat the parue cakes I had at the orphanage. These were commoner sweets that didn’t exist in the Noble’s District, but their taste was packed full with flavours. The apprentice said that this was the highlight of every winter. I guessed that she didn’t realise that I wouldn’t be her bodyguard anymore by next winter.

And I don’t think it would be a good idea for me to harvest some parue with commoners. This sucks.

I was trying to recall the taste of that delicious parue cake when Lord Ferdinand said, “Oh yes”. He must have recalled that he wanted to ask something.

“I keep hearing about this person ‘Tuuli’, but who is she exactly and what does she does here? I don’t suppose she has as many things to do like the Gilberta Company.”

Tuuli always made a frequent appearance in the reports, she always came with the Gilberta Company but would head off to the orphanage immediately. I only came to realise that I failed to give details on her because I believed that the Gilberta Company would do so.

Tuuli was the apprentice’s older sister and was a thorough-bred commoner. They didn’t really resemble each other despite being siblings. I could tell that they were close but it was because they spoke and acted so differently that I struggled to believe that they were kin.

“Tuuli helps tutor the orphans sewing and cooking in exchange for lessons on math and reading in the orphanage school. Now that spring has begun again, she has to get back to work so she only visits on alternate days. It’s quite important for the the apprentice to see her family members so that she will remain composed.”

“Great. That sounds like splendid news.”

Things had gotten out of hand during the severe snowstorms last winter. The weather was so bad that the apprentice’s family couldn’t make the trip down. She had gotten so anxious that she needed to stay by Lord Ferdinand’s side all the time, she resembled a small duckling following its parent.

On the worst days, Lord Ferdinand had to take the apprentice to his studio. He was quite uncomfortable doing so but it was the last resort to cool her nerves.

The studio was also known as Lord Ferdinand’s hidden room. Nobles saw their hidden room as their most secretive and elusive place. It was the only place they could seek solace and comfort in when needed, so they usually wouldn’t take too kindly to someone entering it. Though noble children would put their parents’ mana in the room’s roster so they could enter too, they would rewrite the barrier so that only they themselves could enter. That was why I was so shocked when Lord Ferdinand allowed someone he was not close to enter his hidden room.

Then again, I could understand why he did so, the apprentice was not a noble so she could not have a hidden room of her own. As such, she had no place to relieve her stress without worry. Furthermore, being the future daughter of a noble demands her to maintain a calm and collected expression at all times.

“Damuel, now that you have spent a season with Myne, how do you feel about her being Karstedt’s adopted daughter?” Lord Ferdinand raised a question.

I paused with the knife in hand and recalled what happened with the apprentice last winter.

“…She always looks so happy whenever she’s with her family and the Gilberta Company, it pains me to see how dejected she looks whenever they leave. Having to see such a young girl be separated from her family is a sorrowful sight to bear. Nevertheless, for her safety, it is crucial that she gets adopted. With the amount of mana she possess, her knowledge to start such a profitable workshop and her money sense, along with her crippling health, she will not survive as a commoner.”

‘“So we share the same sentiments,” Lord Ferdinand’s voice dipped a tone as he took a bit of his food.

“I got the chance to see her run the orphanage and workshop in person, and I can say for sure that the apprentice is a peculiar person. It’s not an issue of whether she is a noble or a commoner, she’s entirely different from everyone.

The hierarchy between nobles and commoners was established based on the amount of mana they possessed or not, as such they acted very differently from each other. Yet the apprentice was unlike any noble or commoner. It had nothing to do with the amount of mana she possessed, the things she did and the way she thinks was out of this world. The stark contrast between the apprentice and the other commoners was even more distinct when she interacted with her family or the Gilberta Company.

“The most shocking thing was when she said that she started the workshop in the orphanage for pure satisfaction. I would never come to imagine that a commoner would choose to do something for pleasure, and not survival. Furthermore, she’s earning so much money that my mind cannot wrap around it.”

During the times I was in her chambers, I would often hear her discussions with the Gilberta Company and see her working on the reports with Fran and Gil to calculate the workshop’s revenue. It has barely been a year since she got baptized but she is earning more than a laynoble’s annual salary, using myself as the comparison.

“No matter which angle you see her from, the apprentice is an odd one, indeed. But I firmly believe that she needs Lord Karstedt’s protection if she wants a smooth-sailing life.” I finished my conjecture.

There was nothing better than having the commander of the Knight Order protection, adding on to the fact that he is a relative of the archduke too. Being with a noble like Lord Karstedy was much better than a violent and horrible mid-noble like Shikza. And the best thing would be that if she became the daughter of an archnoble and entered the noble society, she could improve my situation by showing her favour to me again. My life would be back to how it was before I screwed up that time. For now, I wanted to continue serving the apprentice as it would help me in my future endeavours.

“…To think that you would speak of Myne so fondly, you must be quite used to life in the temple and serving her now. You look much different than last time,” Lord Ferdinand commented.

I gave a wistful smile and continued to eat my food. Feeling the meat crumble apart in my mouth truly resembled how my life was like last autumn, my life was literally crumbling apart. My whole life had turned around during the mission to kill the trombe.

“I was looking forward to my first mission to exterminate the trombe because I couldn’t participate in them before my coming of age. I know I am just a low-ranking knight, but I always did my best to memorise the prayers on Darkness for weapons.”

“I do have some vague memories about the knights getting overjoyed at being able to use weapons with Darkness for the first time,” Lord Ferdinand gave a nostalgic smile.

Apparently he was excited for his first official mission as a knight too. I didn’t know why, but hearing that made me kind of happy.

“I understand why Lord Karstedt chose me to watch over the apprentice then. I had just graduated as an apprentice knight and had no prior experience with trombe extermination. Furthermore, I didn’t possess much mana. Even so, I wished that he didn’t select Shikza as my partner.”

Shikza was a mid-noble that left the temple after the last civil political restructuring. He used to be a priest with little mana, so the noble society looked down on him. The only thing that comforted him was his status that allowed him to trample on those beneath him in status, that is the lower-ranking nobles. No matter how much I hated it and was vexed by it, there was no way I could go against a midnoble.

“Shikza believed that his status allowed him to freely harm the apprentice with no consequences. Though the only punishment I received was a demotion and not an execution, my life had turned for the worst. I was sent into debt and had to seek out my older brother to pay for my portion of the apprentice’s clothes. My engagement with my ex-fiancee was dissolved because I had been demoted to an apprentice knight and my new job was in a temple that required me to guard a commoner apprentice shrine maiden. The temple was seen as a dead-end for those without mana, even the other knights in the Order would crackle over it.

A single event had pushed me over the cliff in an instant. I had earned everyone’s gaze of sympathy, they knew I was in this position because of Shikza, but that didn’t make me feel any better. My reputation as a knight was stained now that I would forever be remembered as the knight who failed his mission and was exiled to the temple.

I finished recounting how I had suffered as interesting as possible. After that, Lord Ferdinand placed down his utensils and his face hardened.

“I feel that you were truly unfortunate and that you did not deserve to be a victim of this horrible event. But at the same time, I cannot entirely agree with the notion that you were punished because of Shikza’s foolishness. You have made mistakes too and it appears that you have not realised them yet.”

…I made a mistake?

I only thought that I was just unlucky to have been dragged into someone else’s problems. Everyone around me told me I was just unlucky but no one said I had messed up too.

I was utterly bamboozled by this, “Someone like me can’t do anything but obey orders from those above me in status. I couldn’t do anything, right?”

Lord Ferdinand raised his eyebrow.

“Damuel, you should have used rott the moment you realized that Shikza was getting out of hand.”

“Rott” was a magic used to signal for help. It was conjured by the schtappe and produced a crimson light. Lord Ferdinand explained that I should have used rott to call for backup from the other knights involved in the fight. But frankly, when it came down to choosing between protecting a commoner shrine maiden and eliminating a dangerous trombe, the altter seemed more important.

“…To think of using rott, that did not come to my mind at all then.”

“If you were guarding an archnoble or an archduke’s daughter from another duchy, you would have done so, right?”

He made a point. If I was guarding the daughter of an archnoble, there was no doubt that I would have done everything to stop Shikza’s attack. If I was not strong enough to subdue him, I would have resorted to using rott. So I had subconsciously been undermining the apprentice like Shikza because she was a commoner. My mind went into shock.

“You must always put the subject of your protection before yourself. When you find yourself in a situation where you cannot do so, you should have used rott. Seek the aid of nobles of a higher status when you find yourself oppressed by a tyrannic midnoble. But you did not do any of them. You just accepted the situation in cowardice rather than fulfill your duties, and now you complain that you have suffered before of your misfortune. That is why you are at fault too.”

Though Lord Ferdinand looked quite serious about it, his tone was quite soft. He was trying to reassure me that he would have come if I had asked for help.

What he said stupefied me. This was the first time an archnoble had offered me his help.

“…The upcoming Spring Prayer will greatly require your support. There has been a disturbing amount of rumours circulating around as or late. Cowardice and arrogance will not be tolerated for this mission.”

“Yes, sir! I promise that I will protect the apprentice this time.”

~~~

After our lunch, I was planning to return to the orphanage director’s chambers when I was halted by Lord Ferdinand.

“Hold on. You mentioned that you had to resort to borrowing money from your older brother. Is that going alright?”

Nope, it’s rather bad.

I had been demoted to an apprentice so my salary was obviously that of an apprentice’s now. Furthermore, most of my savings had gone to my soon-to-be-wife’s expenses back when I was still engaged.

I wanted to ask if I could receive some money back, but my older brother dissuaded me from doing so now that the engagement has been dissolved. And even if they returned it back, it wouldn’t amount to much because it couldn’t settle my debt.

“Frankly, my financial situation is worse than what it was back when I was still a Royal Academy student. Back then I had earned some money on the side from duplicating books and selling notes I made.”

“Duplicating texts and selling notes…? Why would a knight like you do the work of a scholar?” Lord Ferdinand was perplexed. His surprise at this just made me feel ashamed.

It was a common belief that knights earned money from hunting fey-wildlife, such as feyanimals, feyplants, etcetera, and sell the feystones and materials they extracted from them. It just that lower-ranking knights like me didn’t have the luxury of an enormous amount of mana like the archnobles, so it was tough for us to kill strong feyanimals. With that in mind, we could not get our hands on good materials, and the lower-ranking materials didn’t amount to much.

“It’s much more profitable for me to sell some academic notes on knight courses than to take to hunting materials.”

“Interesting… Seeing that you have derived quite some business from selling your notes, can I assume that you are quite dexterous with scholar work?” Lord Ferdinand asked.

I gave him a nod. I helped with my brother’s paperwork whenever I returned home, and that helped me earn a fair share of money. I didn’t mind doing the work of a scholar. When discussing my future with my brother who worked as a scholar, I made the decision to become a knight so that we can widen our family’s connections and scope.

Ferdinand’s eyes lit up in surprise before giving a calculative grin.

“Damuel, will you be interested in working for me too after the Spring Prayer? I promise that I will give you a decent salary.”

Ngh!

My mind kept dwelling on the phrase “decent salary’, but I wasn’t going to fall for it. This might be a trap for me, furthermore, I wasn’t a scholar but a knight.

“Thank you for your kind offer, Lord Ferdinand. But I have to turn it down because I am not a scholar.”

“Do you not wish to earn money to the best of your abilities?”

“I do, but I am after all, the bodyguard of the apprentice. I do not think it’s possible for me to do more work during my punishment…”

I was conflicted over my pride as a knight and the harsh reality I was being forced to face right now. I was desperate for more money, this was the worst position to be in.

Lord Ferdinand probably saw through my dilemma because he narrowed his eyes and spoke again.

“Of course, you will only help out whenever Myne is in my room. I do not suppose it is presumptuous of me to say that she will be safe with me around.”

That sent me into silence, I couldn’t argue against that when he pretty much told me upfront that he was stronger than me. Lord Ferdinand picked up a board and took this time to do write down some numbers.

“I suppose you are aware of my busy work schedule. I would gladly accept any help that comes my way. Hm… How is this salary if you worked from the third to the fourth bell? If you do well, I would be glad to give you a pay raise.”

He was offering me a salary similar to that of an adult knight from the lower-rankings, that is if I worked for a full month. The salary was more than I was given during my term as a bodyguard in the temple. An apprentice’s salary was truly pathetic, adding on a side job to my current one would be ideal.

I gulped.

“…I-I’ll be glad to accept your offer.”

I needed to accept reality rather than try to protect my pride as a knight. Lord Ferdinand seemed pleased with my response and didn’t mock me at all.

“Make good use of this opportunity. If you do not clear your debt, you might find it difficult to get engaged again when you return to the noble society, I suppose.”

That felt like a stab in my heart, but I knew that Lord Ferdinand meant good intentions. Even so, money wasn’t the issue to worry about the most when it came to find~ing a new fiancee.

Where would you find a girl who is willing to marry a guy who came from the temple?!